“That’s like asking me to pick my favorite child,” says Nafziger, who relishes the years-long process that goes into the programming, repertoire and selection and invitation of featured artists. “Each year, the music changes and that means the festival stays new and exciting in different ways for different audiences. Every year, some will say, ‘This is the best one ever,’ and that freshness is exciting.”

The week-long event will be June 14-21 on the 91����Ƶ campus, where both Nafziger and executive director are senior members of the music faculty.

The festival, which draws an estimated 4,000 people, is named in honor of Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer born in 1685, but showcases an ever-changing repertoire of classical music from different eras.

“The festival tagline is ‘Bach is just the beginning,’” Adams said, “and the diversity within our concerts truly reflects that.”

Three concerts and more

The June 14 opening concert showcases five instrumental concertos, all composed by Bach.

Concert 2 features works by Haydn, including Symphony No. 31 in D Major (Hornsignal), Concerto No. 4 in D Major for Harpsichord with ‘95, Te Deum with the Festival Choir, and Symphony No. 102 in B-flat major.

Concert 3 features music by African-American composers Aldophus Hailstork, William Grant Still and Edmund Thornton Jenkins, including a rare performance of Charlestonia, one of the first compositions in which American black music themes are mixed with the European concert tradition. A suite from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, set in the black community of Charleston, concludes the theme. Soprano and baritone are the soloists, joined by the choir.

A Leipzig service, honoring Bach’s service as a church musician, brings the festival to a conclusion on Sunday, June 21. The service includes organ music, hymn singing, a cantata and other music for choir, soloists and orchestra, with a homily by . A is offered afterwards.

Additional featured artists include , trumpet; , flute; , oboe; and , violin; , viola; , organ; , countertenor; and , tenor.

Smaller ensembles and a more informal style are offered through the week at the noon chamber music concerts at First Presbyterian Church. No tickets are required; a $5 donation is suggested.

Musicians enjoy fellowship, hospitality

The Festival Orchestra includes professional musicians from around the country, many of whom return year after year. One bass trombonist annually drives from Florida and stays with the same local host, Nafziger said. “There’s not a huge call for bass trombonists, so he plays in two or three pieces, but stays for the whole week… The fellowship and hospitality here are an important part of why the festival is so successful.”

When musicians want to take a festival season off, they usually ask for “a leave of absence,” Nafziger said. “We don’t have that, but what they mean is, ‘Save my seat so I can come back the next time.’”

Another source of energy is limited rehearsal time, Nafziger says. Musicians arrive and rehearse during the first weekend of the festival, achieving a high standard of quality in a short period of time.

“It’s rewarding to me every year how much work you can do if you clear everything away in your life but what you love doing,” he said. “It’s an exhilarating and exhausting 10 days.”

While professional musicians perform with the Festival Orchestra, the Festival Choir, a volunteer ensemble, allows both professional and amateur vocalists to perform celebrated works. Musicians also come into Harrisonburg for the , a five-day concurrent workshop with masterclasses and coaching sessions in harpsichord, violin, viola da gamba, recorder, lute, and vocal performance.

Tickets

Three-concert ticket packages cost $65 for adults; $55 for seniors ages 65 and older, and $15 for youth ages 22 and younger.

Advance single tickets cost $27 for adults; $22 for seniors and $5 for youth; tickets cost $2 more at the door.

Tickets for groups of 12 or larger cost $22 for adults; $17 for seniors and $5 for youth.

Donations collected for Leipzig and noon chamber music series.

Tickets may be purchased at the door, or by calling 432-4582.

Schedule of Events

• Concert 1: 3 p.m. June 14 at the Lehman Auditorium on 91����Ƶ campus.
• Concert 2: 7:30 p.m. June 19 at the Lehman Auditorium.
• Concert 3: 7:30 p.m. June 20 at the Lehman Auditorium.
• Noon Chamber Music Series: 12 p.m. June 15-20 at the First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg.
• Leipzig Service: 10 a.m. June 21 at the Lehman Auditorium.
• Father’s Day Brunch following the Leipzig service June 21 in the Northlawn Dining Hall. Make reservations by June 15.

The festival, founded by 91����Ƶ professor , has become a Valley tradition. The weeklong event begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, in Lehman Auditorium of 91����Ƶ and closes one week later with The Leipzig Service, a musically oriented worship experience in Lehman. The festival allows both musicians and audiences the opportunity to explore the music of Bach, those who influenced him, and those he inspired.

Bach is just the beginning

Since 2012, the festival’s tagline has been “Bach is just the beginning.” The theme of Bach as a starting point or base for the festival’s exploration will be on display again this year as the program features pieces by Bach contemporaries like Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, as well as instrumental sections from an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau and more recent pieces by Gwyneth Walker and Kyle Lane.

, executive director of the Bach Festival and an 91����Ƶ music professor, said the musical diversity of the Bach Festival makes it exciting. As an example, she cited “phenomenal featured artists” performing Mendelssohn’s Elijah, “a masterpiece in choral and orchestral literature.” That performance is set for Saturday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Lehman Auditorium.

Despite the festival’s musical diversity Bach is always at the center. The performances of three Bach Cantatas, 51, 82, 180, along with several of his organ pieces, will keep the festival solidly grounded in the musician who inspired it.

Quality performers

In over two decades, the festival has become a gathering place for acclaimed national talents. This year’s featured performers will include prodigy flutist , who at age 14 has already soloed at the Dallas, National, and Pittsburg Symphonies and on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. She has been reviewed by the New York Times, and is the youngest member of the program.

Other notable performers include Maryland-based organist , who has been a featured performer at three national conventions of the ; harpsichordist , sought-after performer and teacher of Baroque music across the United States; and .

The festival also features more local, though no less dynamic, talent in violinist and 91����Ƶ professor . An extraordinary musician, Griffing has previously performed with the AIMS festival orchestra in such non-local destinations as Austria and Italy. She also completed a three-week performing tour in Taiwan and is a founding member and regular performer with Musica Harmonia, a group which seeks to promote peace and culture through music.

Tickets and information

Discounted tickets for the festival can be purchased in advance from the 91����Ƶ box office (540-432-4582), or from . Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door at a non-discounted rate.

For those wishing to experience the festival outside of the ticketed concerts, a lunch-hour chamber music series will be held at First Presbyterian Church on June 9-14 at noon. Organizers of the Chamber music series will request donations, but tickets are not required. In addition, the annual Baroque workshop will be held from June 8-14, giving participants the opportunity to study Baroque music and dance under the instruction of several acclaimed artists. More information is here (emu.edu/bach/baroque/).

All information about the festival can be found here (emu.edu/bach/).

“It adds a beauty and an enjoyment [to life]. … It touches the deepest part of our soul in a way not much else does,” she remarked.

As the executive director of the 22nd annual  (SVBF), Adams is looking forward to sharing her passion for classical music at the week-long event to be held June 8-15 at 91����Ƶ.

Adams, who estimates the event draws a crowd of roughly 4,000 annually, says the festival is respected nationwide for its high-quality performances, and even attracts some international audience members. According to Adams, the even called the SVBF the “jewel in Harrisonburg’s crown.”

“It’s such an intense week,” she added. “The musicians are playing from the moment they get to town until they leave 10 days later.”

This year’s featured musical artists include , , , , , , , , and .

Adams says that Nafziger — the artistic director/conductor — keeps the shows fresh from year to year.

“He makes a point of making it new,” she praised.

Though the SVBF will offer classical music from six different eras, the festival is named in honor of Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer born in 1685.

“Most of the composers who came afterwards, to this day, use his music as a model,” explained Adams, adding that Bach’s works are at the event’s “heart.”

Adams encourages all locals to attend the festival, and says there’s no need to be a musical expert. With the help of program guide notes and explanations from the stage, she insists that even a novice can enjoy the experience.

“The music lover is really going to understand and appreciate everything going on with this … but we really do try to get people who don’t know much about classical music in there, too.”

Three-concert ticket packages cost $60 for adults; $50 for seniors ages 65 and older, and $15 for youth ages 22 and younger.

Advance single tickets cost $25 for adults; $20 for seniors and $5 for youth; tickets cost $2 more at the door.

Tickets for groups of 12 or larger cost $20 for adults; $15 for seniors and $5 for youth.

Donations collected for leipzig and noon chamber music series.

Tickets may be purchased at the door, online at emu.edu/box-office or by calling 432-4582.

Schedule of Events

• Concert 1: 3 p.m. June 8 at the Lehman Auditorium on 91����Ƶ campus.
• Concert 2: 7:30 p.m. June 13 at the Lehman Auditorium on 91����Ƶ campus.
• Concert 3: 7:30 p.m. June 14 at the Lehman Auditorium on 91����Ƶ campus.
• Leipzig Service: 10 a.m. June 15 at the Lehman Auditorium on 91����Ƶ campus.
• Noon Chamber Music Series: 12 p.m. June 9-14 at the First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg.
• Father’s Day Brunch following the leipzig service June 15 in the Northlawn Dining Hall. Make reservations online by June 1.

For a complete list, visit schedule.

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, May 14, 2014

One of the soloists, Canadian bass Daniel Lichti, sang in the first performance of Elijah at the Bach festival in 1995. This year’s Elijah is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, in Lehman Auditorium.

The oratorio about the Old Testament prophet will be conducted by , a long-time 91����Ƶ professor who helped establish the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival in 1992.

The festival honors the music of prolific 18th-century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as works by other composers.

Among them this year is Mendelssohn, another German composer who worked a century after Bach. He wrote Elijah for the 1846 Birmingham Music Festival in England, where it premiered to an enthusiastic audience and glowing reviews.

Lichti, singing the title role in Elijah, has established himself as one of Canada’s finest bass-baritones, performing with many of North America’s major orchestras and choirs. He appears regularly at festivals and performs oratorio and opera internationally.

This year, he is celebrating 40 years of professional performing with concerts in Canada, the United States and Europe. His debut was in an opera in 1974 at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. Lichti is a voice professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. During a recent sabbatical from his teaching, he performed Franz Schubert’s epic Winterreise in Paris, Vienna and Lyon.

The other soloists for Elijah this year at 91����Ƶ are soprano Sharla Nafziger (no relation to Ken J. Nafziger), who performs throughout her native Canada and the United States; mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick, a performer who teaches voice at Princeton University; and tenor Kenneth Gayle, the producing director for an innovative musical non-profit organization in Houston.

While the orchestra is made up of professionals invited to the festival, the choir is composed of volunteers from near and far. (Anyone interested in singing in this year’s choir should contact at mathewsl@emu.edu.)

The 2014 festival begins on Sunday, June 8, at 3 p.m., with organist Marvin Mills performing Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in A Minor.” That afternoon’s concert will also feature music by composers like Handel, Rameau, Telemann, Zelenka and Bach’s son, C.P.E. Bach.

“In our 20^th season, we unveiled a new tag line – ‘Bach is just the beginning’ – as a way of understanding more completely what this Bach festival is all about,” said Ken J. Nafziger.

From June 9-14, the festival includes daily noon chamber music concerts at First Presbyterian Church on Court Square in Harrisonburg. No tickets are required, but donations are requested at the door. A complete schedule is available on the .

The noon concert on Monday, June 9, will feature the faculty of the annual , which is part of the Bach festival. The academy, held June 8-14, offers solo master classes and ensemble coaching by internationally acclaimed artists Arthur Haas, harpsichord; Martha McGaughey, viola da gamba; and Linda Quan, baroque violin.

A second major concert on Friday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m. will feature the festival orchestra performing two of Bach’s cantatas and music by Maurice Ravel. Emma Resmini, an acclaimed 14-year-old flutist from Fairfax, Va., will also play a concerto by Jacques Ibert.

Yet another component to the festival is the Road Scholar Program, which offers classes throughout the United States. From June 11 to 15, participants will enjoy the history and culture of the Shenandoah Valley while attending the festival’s concerts and interacting with the musicians, conductor and musical scholars. More information is available from .

On Sunday, June 15, at 10 a.m., Nafziger will lead the annual Leipzig service, inspired by the worship services at Bach’s church in Germany. He will be joined by the festival orchestra and choir as well as the featured vocal soloists and organist Marvin Mills. The homily will be delivered by Lara Steinel, music director at a progressive Jewish congregation – Kol Ami – in Kansas City, Mo.

The final event of the festival is a Father’s Day brunch in 91����Ƶ’s Northlawn dining hall. must be made by June 1.

Advance tickets to the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival are available at the 91����Ƶ box office – 540-432-4582 or-. They will also be available at the door at slightly higher prices.

For more details, visit .����

The program will feature organist, Marvin Mills, and American soprano, Marlissa Hudson. The duo will alternate between solo organ works and additional works that combine their talents.

“Their collaboration on this theme, the spiritual connections, seemed to be a logical and interesting concept for our concert,” said Mary Kay Adams, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival.

Kenneth J. Nafziger, Bach Festival artistic director and conductor, will provide commentary.

“Because this is the twentieth anniversary of the Bach Festival, we are doing many unique and exciting events in celebration of this milestone,” Adams said.

“The choice of dates was intentional, selected because it is Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday, March 21, 1685,” Adams said. “Not only will we celebrate the festival’s twentieth anniversary this season, but this concert is in celebration of Bach’s birthday. Both are important to us.”

The 2012 Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival dates are June 10-17.

91����Ƶ the performers

At home both on the operatic and concert stage, American Soprano Marlissa Hudson made her professional debut while a student, performing “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Pops Orchestra. Her other acclaimed role is Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, which she performed with The Summer Opera Theatre Company. Her performances earned glowing reviews in both the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun, which described her as “an endearing Zerbinetta … [who] nailed the pyrotechnic aria, “Grossmachtige Prinzessin,” in bright, sure tones.”

Recently, Hudson completed her debut CD, “Libera,” published through African Musical Arts, Inc. and available through iTunes and Amazon.com. Sarah Bryan Miller of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that “Hudson sings (them) all in a rich, expressive voice that doesn’t stint on high notes, with clear diction and true feeling.” Mark Hayes, noted classical music composer, commented that “I love how Marlissa has interpreted my arrangements. She sings them like she has lived them…her pitch is impeccable and her voice shows amazing flexibility and control.”

Marvin Mills, a native of Philadelphia, is organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Maryland. He has been music director of the acclaimed National Spiritual Ensemble, and guest artist with the Ritz Chamber Players, based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mills has performed for numerous chapters of The American Guild of Organists and been a featured recitalist at several of its national conventions. Presented in recital by the Washington National Cathedral in observance of Black History Month, he was invited back for its 1995 and 2002 Summer Festival Series.

He has performed throughout the United States, including The Academy of Music, Philadelphia; The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and The Barns-Wolf Trap Farm Park in addition to colleges and universities. He has also been a featured artist at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival as keyboard artist (harpsichord/piano/organ), chamber musician and choral conductor – preparing the Festival Chorus for major works such as: Haydn’s Creation, �Ѵdz�������’s Requiem, �����ٳ�DZ����’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s Samson and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and many Bach cantatas.

The 17th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival at 91����Ƶ combined serious music with casual dress, Baroque masterworks with contemporary compositions and painful reflections with hard-won inspiration.

The 2009 festival orchestra, under the direction of conductor Kenneth J. Nafziger and concertmaster/principal violinist Joan Griffing, both professors of music at 91����Ƶ, rehearsed throughout the week in preparation for the week-long schedule of special concerts. See a gallery of photos from the festival week

Based on the theme “Bach and Handel,” the June 14-21 festival included a rare performance of Samson and an unusual approach to Handel’s Messiah. The festival also featured Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, many of his shorter works and a performance of his Cantata BWV 146 (“We Must Go through Much Tribulation”) as part of the Leipzig Worship Service on Sunday morning.

The Leipzig service also included a homily by the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt of New York, who reflected on her experiences as a chaplain after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Featured artists

As featured artists for the week, soloists Kenneth Gayle, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, Heidi Kurtz and David Newman sang in the opening Messiah concert, the three-hour Samson oratorio and the Sunday morning cantata.

The featured artists gathered before one of the festival’s many concerts: (pictured l to r) soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani, organist and assistant choral director Marvin Mills (seated), artistic director and conductor Ken J. Nafziger, mezzo-soprano Heidi Kurtz, festival executive director and principal flutist Mary Kay Adams, tenor Kenneth Gayle, and bass David Newman. See a gallery of photos from the festival week

Gayle, a tenor who has been performing at the festival for the past decade, said that artistic director and conductor Kenneth Nafziger “always does a lot of interesting programming.” The Houston-based singer particularly appreciated the chance to perform Samson – “It’s so rarely done” – and to hear Messiah performed with some of the orchestrations that Mozart composed for it.

The Messiah concert, he said, was “a fun hop, skip, and a jump” through the piece. “What I enjoyed [most] was when we would [perform] the Handel orchestration and segue into the Mozart orchestration. You could hear the whole history.”

Gayle’s fellow soloists praised the quality of the festival. Newman, a bass from Luray, Va., described Nafziger as “fabulous” to work with. “We have complete artistic freedom,” said Kampani, a soprano from Washington, D.C.

Yet when asked about the defining characteristics of the festival, Newman didn’t talk about music. Instead, he commented on footwear. The event has “a high flip-flop quotient,” he said.

“Casual shoes,” Kampani explained, as Newman pointed to his feet.

The event is “very summery” and “very relaxing,” Kampani observed. “It’s a great group of people – very friendly.”

“It’s a nice way to work,” said Kurtz, a mezzo-soprano from Philadelphia who is a 1989 91����Ƶ graduate. “For me, it always feels like coming home.”

Mills an integral part of festival

Though not listed as a featured performer, Marvin Mills was probably the busiest musician during the week. The Baltimore keyboardist played harpsichord for the orchestral performances, served as assistant choral director, was an accompanist at several of the noon concerts and played organ and piano during the Leipzig service. He also composed preludes or versets for several of the Sunday hymns.

“Marvin probably comes as close to being the Bach of this congregation as anyone,” Nafziger observed at the beginning of the service. Along with three ticketed concerts, this year’s festival included six free noon concerts held at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg.

Most moving moments of the week

The Monday noon concert featured a performance of “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams, composed for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The concert also included “Night Songs for Violin and Piano,” a 2009 composition by Janet Peachey. The piece was written for violinist Mark Hartman, a Harrisonburg native who is now an assistant professor at Shippensburg (Pa.) University.

In a week filled with music, perhaps the most moving moments came via the spoken word, in McNatt’s homily on hope in the midst of death. Amid the horror of Ground Zero, there was life, she said. People loaded food and supplies in their cars and drove into the city. Others cheered the recovery workers.

In today’s world “of terror and wonder,” McNatt said, “God is our constant companion.” God welcomes our questions, doubts and fears and “still upholds [us].”

New programs in 2009

Also at the festival, 16 people took part in a new five-day workshop on performing Baroque music. Lynne Mackey was director of the first-ever Virginia Baroque Performance Academy, which featured classes taught by acclaimed harpsichordist Arthur Haas and viola da gambist/cellist Martha McGaughey.

Thirty-six people participated in an Elderhostel held in conjunction with the festival. The participants, aged 55 and older, attended rehearsals and concerts, heard lectures and met festival musicians.

According to Mary Kay Adams, executive director of the Bach festival, attendance at the Elderhostel greatly exceeded expectations. “We’re very pleased,” she said.

Next year’s festival will be held June 13-20, 2010.

Prolific German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) scarcely had time to catch his breath. No sooner did he compose a cantata for the Sunday worship service at the St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig where he was cantor than it was time to work on the next.

And Bach didn’t have access to computer software to help expedite this major undertaking. The melodies flowing from his mind were committed to parchment by hand and had to be duplicated manually for the orchestral and choral participants in the service.

Not only that, but he had to rehearse and conduct soloists, chorus and orchestra and serve as organist. And that was only a small part of his job description as official musician for four churches in the city of Leipzig.

The program theme, “Mostly Bach,” at 91����Ƶ highlighted the richness and diversity of the composer’s massive output, opening Sunday, June 11, with his monumental “Mass in B Minor.” Featured soloists were Sharla Nafziger, soprano; Jennifer Cooper, alto; Kenneth Gayle, tenor; and Thomas Jones, bass; with Marvin Mills, organ continuo and the festival choir and orchestra.

The festival concluded Sunday, June 18, with a “Leipzig Service,” a sermon in music modeled after the liturgical pattern of Bach’s time. Many festival attendees deemed the service, which included a portion of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio,” as a “highlight” of the weeklong program.

Others might point to another distinct feature of this year’s festival, the return of guest artist Jeremy Wall, a pianist and arranger who has recorded a dozen well-received classical-jazz “World Beat” albums with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Wall, a founding member of the 1980’s jazz group, “Spyro Gyra,” first appeared at the Bach Festival in 2004.

“The universal greatness of Bach’s music allows it to be adapted to other idioms,” Wall said during a rehearsal. “The harmonic syntax of Bach’s music has a common ground with the language of jazz that allows one to take some of his musical structures and adapt them into jazz arrangements.”

But, he added, “the process evolved out of a process of living with Bach’s music.”

During the June 17 evening performance of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio,” audience members were visibly moved as Wall and Pete Spaar, principal bass, and clarinetist Leslie Nicholas took sections of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” and segued into a series of jazz improvisations that seemlessly combined the musical languages.

“This may be the first time this particular Bach composition has been performed publicly in this way,” said , artistic director and conductor of the week-long homage to Bach and his music.

With 2006 marking the 250th anniversary of another musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Austrian composer’s music was featured on two of the seven daily noon chamber music programs held at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg. His “Symphony No. 35 in D Major” opened the June 16 evening festival program.

A recurring phenomenon of the Bach Festival is the diverse group of singers and players who gather in Lehman Auditorium for brief and intense rehearsal sessions and almost immediately sound like they’ve performed together for years.

Violinist Amy Helmuth Glick of Orrville, Ohio, is among the instrumentalists who returns every year to participate in the festival, having missed just one of the 14 seasons.

“I get to come back and stay with my parents, Ervie and Mary Glick, and to make wonderful music,” Glick said. “I especially enjoy the opportunity to play Bach’s choral works.” Glick, who attended 91����Ƶ 1990-91, is a free-lance violinist in the Northeast Ohio area and is a member of the Akron Symphony. Ervie Glick was a member of the festival chorus.

Paul E. Groff, a bass in the festival choir, was intrigued by the fusion of Bach’s music with the jazz improvisations of Jeremy Wall and his colleagues. He felt that the inclusion of two different styles “added life to the concerts and helped make Bach feel more contemporary.”

A graphic designer from Harrisonburg and 1990 91����Ƶ graduate, Groff relished “the opportunity to sing with top-notch musicians from across the country.”

In opening the Sunday Leipzig service, Dr. Nafziger told the audience that “we’ve spent the week playing and praying Bach,” adding: “Perhaps through this experience Bach is teaching us that at their best praying and playing are one and the same thing.”

“We’re delighted that the community embraces the Bach Festival as ‘our’ music festival,” said Beth K. Aracena, associate professor of music at 91����Ƶ and Bach program coordinator. “The noon concerts at Asbury United Methodist Church were extremely well-attended, and the strong turnout at Lehman Auditorium demonstrates this community’s commitment to supporting quality performing arts programs,” she added.

Next year’s Bach Festival will be June 10-17, 2007, on the theme, “Bach and Some Admirers.” Renowned pianist Janina Fialkowska will return to the festival with her interpretations of Chopin’s piano concertos.

Of various reasons musicians give for returning each year to the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival on the 91����Ƶ campus, one seems to tug hardest at the heartstrings – a sense of “community.”

Some are drawn because they “thoroughly enjoy the creativity of the programs” assembled by the festival’s artistic director and conductor, Kenneth Nafziger. Dr. Nafziger, professor of music at 91����Ƶ, is considered a foremost authority on the music of prolific German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Others cite the “family feel” that flows through the week’s activities.

Philip Stoltzfus has attended every Bach Festival since its inception in 1992 and has played violin in the orchestra for 10 of those 12 years.

Stoltzfus, an assistant professor of religion at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., said, “This event fosters a sense of community among participants – it makes you want to come back. The material is fresh and challenges both the players and audiences.

“With only a few days to rehearse, the music isn’t beaten to death,” he said. “The intense practices help us develop a certain higher level of musicality, and I enjoy hearing Bach juxtaposed with other composers’ musical styles.”

Stoltzfus especially enjoyed playing in Dvorak’s ‘Symphony No. 8,’ which he said “showcases the strings and brass – it’s what orchestra playing is all about.”

(L. to r.): Paul Whelan, bass; Kenneth Gayle, tenor; Carrie Stevens, mezzo soprano; and Madeline Bender, soprano, were featured soloists for Mozart’s “Requiem in D Minor” performed June 18 at the 12th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival.
Photo by Jim Bishop

This year’s program went “Bach to Basics,” with the timeless, majestic works of the prolific German composer (1685-1750) featured prominently throughout the June 13-20 program.

Nafziger acknowledged that while there are numerous programs worldwide that recognize Bach’s musical genius, the festival each year at 91����Ƶ is but “another way to show appropriate homage to a composer whose music has become fundamental to the entire world.”

The festival opened June 13 with Bach’s “Concerto for Two Pianos in C Major and Strings,” with Carolyn and Stephen W. Sachs as pianists. The program included Antonin Dvorak’s “Serenade in E Major for String Orchestra,” preludes from Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier” and a musical variation on Bach featuring pianist Jeremy Wall, best known as one of the creators of the 1980’s jazz-fusion group, Spyro Gyra.

Two 91����Ƶ graduates returned to their alma mater to share their artistic gifts as featured soloists at the festival.

Madeline Bender, a 1993 alumna, was soprano soloist for Mozart’s magnificent “Requiem in D Minor,” performed June 18 with the festival choir and orchestra. She also sang Bach’s “Cantata No. 51” as part of a second festival concert and selections by Cole Porter and George Gershwin during a noon program.

Ms. Bender, who went on to graduate from Manhattan School of Music, is a full-time, free-lance musician who performs primarily operatic roles around the world.

“It was a wonderful, almost surreal feeling to come back to 91����Ƶ, to be surrounded by family and friends while doing this Bach Festival,” she said. “It was also interesting to see it [the festival] through the eyes of my friend Paul (Whelan),” who was bass soloist in Mozart’s “Requiem.”

Bender, who plans to go to Luxembourg for a performance before taking a summer break, hopes to “keep going the direction I’m going” with her music, which may include some additional training to hone her craft.

Joseph Gascho, a 1995 91����Ƶ graduate, joined with colleague Elena Tsai to perform works on harpsichord by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti with the festival orchestra.

Gascho went on to earn a degree from the Peabody Conservatory and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Maryland, where he also teaches basso continuo.

He “happened” to encounter Ken Nafziger en route to a music performance in North Carolina, and Nafziger later invited him to take part in this year’s Bach program.

Gascho, like Bender, said he was “excited” to play in the festival and to reunite with friends on campus.

Noon concerts Monday through Saturday, a popular aspect of the weeklong program, moved this year to the sanctuary of Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg.

The daily programs of shorter pieces offered by various festival musicians “filled the church sanctuary, some days to overflowing,” according to Beth K. Aracena, acting head of 91����Ƶ’s music department and festival coordinator. “It was certainly one indicator of enthusiastic response to this year’s program,” she said.

“Attendance greatly increased overall this year,” Dr. Aracena noted, “especially for the June 18 concert which featured the Mozart ‘Requiem.'”

A third festival concert June 19 featured Bach’s “Concerto in C Minor for Two Harpsichords and Strings,” featuring Joe Gascho and Elena Tsai; Bach’s “Concerto in A minor for Violin and Strings” with Joan Griffing of 91����Ƶ’s music department as soloist; and Anton Dvorak’s soaring, joyful “Symphony No. 8 in G Major.” At the close of that performance, the orchestra received a sustained, standing ovation.

Again this year, a festival high point for many attendees was the Leipzig service, Sunday morning, June 20, a recreation of an 18th century worship service at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was cantor and composed a cantata for each week

The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival is going Bach to basics, with the timeless music of the prolific German composer at the center of the programming.

This year’s festival, June 13-20, will celebrate its twelfth season at 91����Ƶ. Reviewers have called the annual event “the jewel in Harrisonburg’s crown.”

According to artistic director and conductor Kenneth J. Nafziger, Johann Sebastian Bach has festivals all around the world named in his honor. So why hold one every summer in Harrisonburg?

“I suspect that there are so many Bach festivals because he is recognized as fundamental to the entire world of music since his death in 1750. Doing a festival is one way of paying appropriate homage to his genius,” Dr. Nafziger said.

“Bach, unlike a lot of other famous-name composers, has touched the music of many cultures and many styles. One of my favorite Bach concerto performances was by a bluegrass band. Jazz has been crossing over into Bach for a good while now. There is African Bach, there is Japanese Bach, there is Brazilian Bach – it’s universal.

“For me personally, the music of Bach is the most complete musical expression I know,” Nafziger stated. “All music touches various parts of us – intellect, emotion, spirit, beauty. His works are as complete as anything ever is in the world of music.”

Many music lovers agree with Nafziger. The festival audiences have included people from up and down the East coast and as far away as Oregon. Some have been life-long fans of classical music. Others have never before attended a concert. There are a variety of ages and cultural backgrounds and all feel welcome.

Kenneth J. Nafziger directs the Bach Festival orchestra.

William and Frances Berry drive from Connecticut to 91����Ƶ each year for the festival. While there are music festivals closer to their home, they feel like the one at 91����Ƶ offers “something different” that brings them back year after year.

“We are presented with masterful, loving performances of great music made more meaningful because we have come to know and admire the musicians,” the couple said. “There is no fourth wall between audience and performer. We go to the rehearsals. We chat with players and singers. We have followed careers of young musicians as they have returned time and again. We almost feel that we are part of this place.

“We know that Bach was essentially a church musician. We also know that he was a devoted Christian churchman. Nafziger’s interpretations of Bach’s cantatas, motets, masses, passions, etc. have been memorable. We have felt the Eternal Presence in this great body of sacred music each year. This music is our accompaniment on the journey of faith,” the Berrys stated.

The Berrys aren’t the only ones who “come home” to 91����Ƶ for the festival. This year, 91����Ƶ alumni Madeline Bender, soprano, and Joseph Gascho, harpsichordist, are two of the featured soloists. Once students devoted to hours of practicing in the music department, they return to campus as accomplished professionals to share their gifts with the community.

Madeline Bender

Ms. Bender earned a degree from the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. She is a winner of the 1995 Amadeus Fund Grant, the Judith Raskin Memorial Award from the Santa Fe Opera Apprenticeship program, and was a 1996 finalist in the George London Competition, and the 1996 recipient of Manhattan School of Music’s Richard F. Gold Career Award Grant and master of music degree. After an apprenticeship with the Santa Fe Opera, Bender’s career has taken her all over the world to perform major operatic roles.

Joseph Gascho

Gascho’s recent accomplishments include first prize in the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition and a grant award for solo performance by the Maryland State Arts Council. He earned his masters degree from the Peabody Conservatory and is currently pursuing his doctorate at the University of Maryland. He will be performing Bach’s “Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C Minor” with colleague Elena Tsai.

The Bach festival orchestra is made up of professional players from throughout Virginia and around the country who return year after year.

The choir is made up of singers primarily from the local area. Others come from many places in the eastern half of the United States because they enjoy singing, and because the choral experience is a strong one.

Highlights of this year’s festival will include:

* Jeremy Wall, founding member of the jazz fusion group “Spyro Gyra,” who will perform his Worldbeat Bach arrangement in the opening concert on Sunday, June 13.

* Mozart’s “Requiem” will be performed during Festival Concert I on Friday, June 18 with orchestra, choir, Madeline Bender, soprano; Carrie Stevens, alto; Kenneth Gayle, tenor; and Paul Whelan, bass.

* Saturday’s Festival Concert II features two Bach concertos and Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8 in G Major.”

* The Leipzig Service on Sunday, June 20, is an annual favorite to conclude the week of music. The service, modeled after the ones at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bach’s time, will include a Bach cantata (with chorus, orchestra and soloists), hymns, organist Marvin Mills, and a homily given by Christian Early, assistant professor of philosophy and theology at 91����Ƶ.

* Noon concerts presented throughout the week at Asbury United Methodist Church, downtown Harrisonburg, offer a chance for everyone to sample chamber music presented by the festival musicians.

More information on the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival is available at www.emu.edu/bach. Advance tickets for the concerts are available from the 91����Ƶ box office, 540-432-4582.